The Government is putting in place a range of immigration policy changes to help fill labour shortages in key industries while ensuring New Zealanders, who have lost jobs due to COVID-19, have the chance to find new employment.
The Government has established class exceptions for border entry for a limited number of veterinarians, deep sea fishing crew, as well as agricultural and horticultural machinery operators.
The Government is working on how New Zealand’s retirement income policies and settings can best support Kiwis in light of the COVID-19 economic recovery, with the help of the Retirement Commissioner’s latest review, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said.
The Minister of Immigration has announced adjustments to immigration instructions to provide more clarity to the assessment criteria for employers wanting to request a border exception for their workers under the ‘other critical worker’ category.
The Government is creating a new border exception category to enable the return of some temporary work visa holders who are overseas and have strong, ongoing links to New Zealand.
The Government is making changes to current border exception rules to allow some partners of New Zealand citizens and residents to be able to reunite in New Zealand.
The Government is making changes to help new residents stuck offshore keep their residency status while COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in place.
New Zealanders who have money locked up offshore due to cancelled travel plans as a result of COVID-19 will benefit from a new Government scheme to support the recovery of refunds and credits from overseas travels suppliers.
The Government is making short-term, practical changes to visa settings to help visitors and other temporary migrants remain in New Zealand lawfully while they arrange travel home, says Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi.
The Government has confirmed a community-wide trial of CovidCard technology as it explores options for COVID-19 contact tracing.
$50 million for further rural broadband digital connectivity has been allocated from the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the COVID Response and Recovery Fund has been announced by Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure and Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media.
The Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has congratulated the Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB) programme on its major milestone of connecting more than 1 million New Zealand households and businesses to UFB.
The Government has delivered on its promise to New Zealanders to modernise tenancy laws with the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill 2020 today, says Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing), Kris Faafoi.
Reform of New Zealand’s out of date tenancy laws is progressing with further improvements included to protect victims of family violence being added to the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill 2020.
The first of nearly 70 new state homes have been opened in Cannons Creek, Porirua by the Associate Minister of Housing, Kris Faafoi, as part of an increase in public housing being delivered thr
More warmer, drier homes and a big building boost for regional centres across New Zealand are two of the major benefits from a $500 million investment in the upgrade and renewal of state homes.
Additional funding is being made available to strengthen existing debt solution services with access to debt specialists, and develop a national approach to address problem debt Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni and Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Hon Kris Faafoi announced today.
Temporary migrant workers will be better protected by sweeping changes to prevent exploitation and improve enforcement, say Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, Minister for Workplace Relations Andrew Little, and Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi.
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi.
As current restrictions on tenancy terminations ends under Alert Level 1 on 25 June, the Government is extending and increasing Rent Arrears Assistance to support people at risk of being evicted because they are unable to pay rent, Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, and Associate Housing Minister, Kris Faafoi, announced today.
The 100th new rural mobile tower is up and operational in Gebbies Valley, outside Christchurch.
The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, has signalled an end is in sight for high-cost lenders and truck shops who trap vulnerable people in debt.
The deadline for landlords to include detailed information in their tenancy agreements about how their property meets the Healthy Homes Standards, so tenants can see the home they are renting is compliant, has been extended from 1 July 2020 to 1 December 2020.
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission.
